welcome to "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. first a look at the headlines. u.s. president barack obama said he's deploying a support team of up to 300 military advisers to iraq. the head of nato says russian troops are again heading toward the border with ukraine. and kids learning from the best. an academy set up by some of europe's top clubs. u.s. president barack obama has laid out his plans to help iraq's leaders.

he's sending up to 300 military advisers to help security forces in iraq with islamist militants. the u.s. combat troops will not return to the country. obama held a news conference after meeting at the white house with his financial -- or rather, national security team. secretary of state john kerry and defense secretary chuck hagel took part. >> the united states will continue to increase our support to iraqi security forces. we're prepared to create joint operation centers in baghdad and northern iraq to share intelligence and coordinate planning to confront the terrorist threat of isil. >> the military leaders will be prepared to take targeted and precise actions in iraq if necessary. the u.s. will promote diplomatic efforts between iraq and its neighbors. and he said he's sending kerry to the middle east and europe this weekend to discuss the

crisis. obama said iraqi leaders must rise above their differences. he said they must come together around a political plan for their country's future. and he called on prime minister nuri al maliki to govern with a more inclusive agenda. iraqi government forces are fighting to regain control of the country's biggest oil refinery. militants launched an assault this week on the facility in the northern city of bai. the refinery supplies 20% of iraq's gas and other oil products. government forces are intensifying their campaign against the militants in other part of the country. they've been ordering more air strikes in the west and iraqi soldiers have retaken some areas in the north. the head of nato says russian military leaders appear to be amassing troops again near ukraine's border. ukrainian government officials say they've seen the same thing. the movement of troops comes days after ukraine's president

proposed a plan to bring peace to the region. nato secretary-general said russia has deployed at least a few thousand more troops to the border. he called the move a very regrettable step backward. ukraine's government also announced that russian troops are establishing new positions along the border. earlier this week, the president deployed a unilateral cease-fire. pro-russian militants have continued fighting. as tensions near the russian border continue, the president said he will sign an agreement with the european union at a summit meeting in brussels next week. the pillar of the agreement is trade liberalization. the accord will pave the way for ukraine to succeed to the eu. his predecessor last year suspended the deal.

that sparked protests that led to the fall of victorian you could vich's government. trade officials from asia pacific nations have been trying to speed up progress on a free trade deal, but still they seem to be at odds. we're joined now from the business desk. give us the latest on the transpacific partnership talks. >> catherine, negotiators from each country are trying to push things forward but there's a little bit of disharmony building up. new zealand's prime minister said japan's leaders must allow more imports from farm products. john key said if they don't, japan should be left out of the transpacific partnership free trade agreements. he made the comment in washington to the u.s. chamber of commerce. new zealand negotiators asked the japanese to open markets for dairy products, but japan's delegates argued for keeping tariffs on certain agricultural products. >> we need a high-quality comprehensive deal. if a partner doesn't want to, we'll be able to do a deal with

a smaller number of people. >> he understands japan's leaders need to consider the views of the nation's farmers but shinzo abe needs to free up japanese markets. tokyo share prices are moving in a tight range. analysts say some investors are placing buy orders following an overnight order in new york. others are selling to lock in profits after tokyo share prices gaped more than 400 points in the last three days, and the index trading at 15,416. up 0.36%. switch to currencies now. dealers in tokyo are moving back from active trading. the dollar remains in a tight range against the yen. currently trading at 101.83-85. traders are cautious, following a mixed bag of economic data such as weekly jobless claims,

manufacturing and leading indicators that came in overnight. having a look at the euro yen, 138.65-75. in other asian markets, kospi trading down just over 1%, and shanghai's key index currently trading at 2,014. hang sang index trading 23,205 right now. investors around the world are keeping a close eye on china's economic growth. they're especially worried about a slowdown across the region. real estate investment has been a main engine of growth, but now that appears to be showing signs of stalling. the chinese government surveys new home prices across 70 cities. in may, half of them saw price falls from the previous month. sharp drops were seen in major cities like shanghai, where the figures declined into negative territory.

local government officials have been relying on revenue from sales of property rights. all the more reason for them to worry about a negative impact from falling property prices. daniel joins us from hong kong to give us insight on the issue. he's a strategist. daniel, right now, we're just looking at the real estate market in china. what is your view on that sector of the market? >> clearly home prices are falling. potential buyers are staying on the sidelines, because of the expectation of home prices are formed. sales are rising to levels above historical avage. so developers have no choice but

to cut prices to boost sales. and i believe more price cuts in the second half of this year is likely, as develops have to meet their full year sales target. it may continue for a longer while. >> china's local governments have to pay off about $3 trillion in debt. senior officials say about 20% of those loans are due this year. and with falling real estate prices, do you think some of the local governments might default? >> well, i don't think that would be the case. local governments have some measures to repayments. of course, the lower sales affect their income, because developers have less cash flow for reinvestment, and that means local governments can no longer rely solely on land sales to meet their expenditures.

the local governments may choose to delay payments on trade payables, rather than have some default on local governments. if necessary, the central governments might step in as a last resort to avoid any fiscal financial crisis. >> touched on some measures there. what measures could local governments implement to ride out that situation? >> the most important measure would be issuing municipal bonds directly. a province is issuing a 5 to 10-year bond next week. it might expand to more provinces in the future. and other important measures include selling enterprises to

raise income for local governments. and also, for the local governments to invite the private sector to participate to invest in the projects, so that the local governments can shift the burdens to the private sector. >> thank you very much. that was daniel so at international securities. japan may draw up measures to prevent leakages of trade secrets. they aim to stop rivals from stealing data on cutting edge technologies. the officials say the government will start discussions soon on revising the current regulations for preventing unfair competition. they pointed out an incident where research data of an electric machinery maker in japan was illegally provided to a competitor in south korea. the revisions may include raising maximum fines for people who illegally gained trade secrets. the penalty is now about $9,000. the changes may also include a review of the system to make it

easier to sue when a firm demands compensation for damages. japanese dealers want to see people driving more eco-friendly cars. automakers prepare to launch them next year. the move comes after a panel of experts drew up a time line to promote the vehicles through 2040. they don't give off carbon dioxide responsible for global warming. ministry officials plan to support the technology by improving subsidies for the next fiscal year. fuel cell cars are expected to cost nearly $100,000. a key target is to sell them for the same price as hybrids. the time line also calls for slashing costs for building hi doctor jen filling stations.

it aims to cut them to half the current levels by 2020. japanese carmakers are trying hard to win back younger customers who are becoming increasingly disinterested in cars. one of them has released a mini sports vehicle with an interchange alex ter yor. the changing the exterior of the car would give it a completely new look. they hope it will help customers find new valley in many vehicles. owners can choose from eight colors for the hood and other components. the parts are fastened to the frame with bolts. the two-seater can run about 25 kilometers on a liter of gas. it's priced at about $18,000. competition is heating up in the market, with honda planning to sell a new mini sports car next year. suzuki has also released a small sport utility vehicle. that's all for business news for this hour. i'll leave you with a look at

the region's markets. every morning investors turn their attention to asia. the tokyo market leads the way. markets around the world follow. >> from the decisions that could change the course of an economy. >> to the companies with change. >> up-to-the-minute market

reports. >> analysis by specialists from around the world. >> get all the latest business news and insight every day, here, on "newsline." japan's world cup hopes are hanging by a thread. the samurai blues had a one-man advantage for most of the match but couldn't make it count. minute. casey honda came close. but the greek keeper carried the shot to safety. in the 38th minute, a red card

was earned. japan held all the pressure in the second half. a defender found the ball at his feet in the closing minutes, but it was wide of the goal. japan now needs to beat colombia on tuesday and hope greece can get at least a point against their opponent. >> nhk world's reporter joined us to tell us how japanese supporters reacted right after the game. >> reporter: thousands of fans are coming here. as you mentioned, many haven't given up hope, because the old saying goes, sometimes a tie is as good as a win. this paints a picture for the viewers around the world of this intersection right here.

this is one of the busiest intersections in the world. hundreds of thousands of people cross it every day. right now, there are a lot of jerseys, very large police presence, making sure everybody gets home safe. a lot of cheering. a lot of excitement. now, a lot of people have been up all night getting ready for this game. we were at a bar a short time ago and there were plenty of people there who looked like they needed some sleep. but no one wants to sleep right now, because this match is so important. as you can see, there are fans who are plenty excited. certainly electric, certainly many people hoping for a win. right now nhk world has been live down here all morning. certainly this is the best place to watch fans. i'll leave it with you saying go, pan, go. >> that was our michael. it wasn't just people at the main intersection cheering the japanese team on. the match kicked off at 7:00 in

the morning japan time. 200 people gathered in an office building in tokyo to cheer the japanese team before going to work. when the match ended, they took and back to business as they shifted to office attire. >> translator: i'm disappointed. i don't know why i came. this will have an impact on my work in the morning. >> translator: we have one more match. i'll work hard at my job and cheer for japan again. >> colombia edged in the other match. the south americans have won both their games. booked their place in the final 16. colombia heading in for a corner, the second goal in brazil.

quontero six minutes later. it was too little, too late. colombia won 2-1. colombia is top of group c with six points. cote d'over. the south americans had flores back from injury. and he struck twice to send england to the brink of elimination. flores didn't take long to stamp his name on the score sheet. he put uruguay in front with the first half header. wayne rooney leveled his first-ever world cup goal. but flores rifled home a winner six minutes from time. the match ended 2-1. costa rica, italy, uruguay have

three points each. england at the bottom of the group with zero. they're not going home quite yet but their hopes are slim. that's all for thursday's action in brazil. well, soccer fans are tuning in to the world cup to watch the best players of the game. many can only dream of becoming professionals. but now there's a chance to learn how. prestigious european soccer clubs are opening schools to share their skills. >> yes! >> reporter: children at this academy near tokyo work hard every day, dreaming of becoming professional footballers. they're at a soccer school at arsenal, one of the most successful clubs in the english premier league opened in april. >> translator: i want to be a player just like nemal. >> reporter: coaches sent from england train children using a

method the club has devised for its own professionals. >> the technical ability is a lot better than i expected. and a lot better than the children back in england, i would say, technically. >> reporter: and parents have high hopes for their children. >> translator: i felt that coaches from other countries will be able to train the kids to a higher level. >> reporter: they might be able to play in europe when they grow up. that's why i chose this school, so it would be really great if things turned out that way. >> reporter: why did the english club open a school in japan? >> translator: one of our aims is to spread the arsenal brand. also, we hope to nurture children who can some day play

on the world stage. >> reporter: it's not just arsenal, many established european soccer clubs, including spain, and madrid, and milan have urban schools in japan. their reach has extended to places like the middle east and africa where they expect to win many new fans. and italian club milan opened its fourth school in japan last month. honda joined milan last december. that helped boost the team's popularity here, and more than 200 children have enrolled since the school opened. an italian coach sent from the parent club takes the trning sessions.

>> translator: japanese children respect discipline. but that doesn't necessarily work to their advantage during matches. sometimes you forget about the basics, and do something unexpected and creative to beat your opponent. >> translator: there's something missing from japanese players. but it's overseas schools making inroads into japan like this. that could spark something off and eventually change japanese soccer. >> reporter: who knows, a few years from now, we might be tuning in to the world cup to see kids trained at high-level

international schools just like these. it's time for a check of the weather. people in southern china are dealing with the worst flooding in a century. we have the details in world weather. >> hello there. this year's rainy season is quite active over southern parts of china. yesterday heavy rain fell one month's worth of rain fell in just six hours. we have some video to show you. people in south china saw the biggest floods in almost a hundred years caused by rainstorms. the region is suffering extensive damage to agriculture,

transportation and property. more than 200 millimeters of rain fell in six hours. th the river was a disaster side. landslides cut off access to sources of clean drinking water. very, very critical situations are happening over southern parts of china, and unfortunately, the seasonal rain is still active. on top of that, we have a new low pressure system. all combined are causing pockets full of rainfall. we're expecting up to 200 millimeters in rain in many places. that's more than a month's worth of rain for june. more flooding is going to be happening over the next several days. meanwhile, heavy rain is also pounding bangladesh and heavy rain will likely move into the southern part of hidusha by saturday. 30 degrees with partly cloudy skies. sopora, you've been dealing with rainy weather over the last couple of weeks.

finally the rain may come out this afternoon. quite hot in hong kong, 31 degrees. cooling down to the mid-20s finally on friday. now, in the americas, severe weather is still happening in the u.s. west. we've got about ten tornadoes on thursday, and more could happen as we go into your friday. because we have a very slow-moving system, and it's still intense to cause more tornadoes, flooding and landslides, as well asarge hail. and this will likely make its way a little bit in southern parts of minnesota, impacted the most on your friday. thundershowers for the eastern third of the u.s., with the exception of the northeast. sunny weather will come back finally in washington, d.c., as well as new york city, and cooling down to the high 20s finally after the day's hot weather and dry weather continues in california. 28 for the high in l.a. in europe, it will be dry during

this time of year. however, heavy rain is still pounding the eastern half of the mediterranean countries from italy through the balkan peninsula in the black sea region. the resort city, ten people have been killed due to torrential rain and flooding. unfortunately, that weather will likely continue into your saturday. but sunny weather will come back in italy by your sunday. temperatures are as follows. down in the teens in berlin and warsaw. cool for this time of the year. plenty of sunshine. and nice and comfortable conditions for the west. 22 in harris. as well as london. now, weather for your brazil. three games are set and it's going to be quite muggy and rainy, and hot. i think the best spot is going to be 16 degrees. here's your extended forecast.

that's all for this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thank you for joining us. er

tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with writer and novelist nomi prins tome, "all the presidents' bankers," talking about more power than presidents by controlling so much capital. then, we will turn to noah wyle with his series "falling skies" produced by steven spielberg returning for a fourth season. that and more, coming up.